Stories by Art Hobson

United States needs a less militarized foreign policy

The Trump administration recently released a National Defense Strategy that tries to justify a new massive military buildup throughout the world. While continuing our campaign against terrorists, the plan's focus is China and Russia, which "want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model." The plan doesn't mention America's efforts to expand NATO up to Russia's borders despite Russian fears of encirclement. It pleads for much more money without explaining why present spending, already more than the next eight nations combined, is insufficient. Continue reading...

Compromise a necessity for good of the nation

Unbending ideology is the enemy of democracy. We see this in nations doomed to terrorism by rigid religious beliefs. We see it in the authoritarian government and failed economies of nations led by extremists of either the left or the right. Continue reading...

Is anti-intellectualism at root of modern problems?

But what should Arkansas do now?

Arkansas has annual highway "needs" totaling about $900 million, but only about $450 million available in highway allocations. The state Highway Commission hoped to get some of the difference from other existing general state revenues. Gov. Asa Hutchinson's response was perfect: Continue reading...

Volume of gun violence shows need to address the problem

I'm no expert on gun violence, but events have surely shown we'd better pay attention to it. The Las Vegas massacre was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, but it was only one of many shootings and we need to develop some feeling for these numbers. Then, maybe, we'll begin to do something. Continue reading...

North Korean leader’s key concern is staying in power

Although global warming poses the planet's greatest long-term danger, nuclear weapons are the major short-term threat. North Korea's recent acquisition of nuclear weapons is perilous and deplorable, but it's not Kim Jong Un's fault alone. It's an inevitable consequence of the failure of the nuclear powers, including us, to work toward a nuclear-weapons-free world. Continue reading...

Despite nation’s wealth, country has a lot of ailments

Recently my extended family got together near the beach in Venice, Calif. Like other U.S. cities, it bears the scars of our national dysfunction. By day, the boardwalk, bikeway and adjoining businesses are packed with thousands of people. But when the sun dips, the tone darkens as homeless people, some mentally ill and some on drugs, begin to dominate. Restaurants and bars won't accept new customers after 8 p.m., and tourists vanish, fearing for their safety. The daily financial turnover along the boardwalk must be an enormous boon for this city of 41,000, but it all stops when evening falls and homelessness, poverty, mental illness and drugs take charge of Venice's crown jewel. Continue reading...

Rate of births exceeding Earth’s capacities

Henderson Island, an uninhabited South Pacific atoll, is so isolated as to be practically untouched, ever, by human presence. Yet according to scientists who studied it in 2015, this island is the final resting place for 38 million pieces of mostly plastic trash, with 3,500 pieces washing up daily. The garbage comes from China, South America, Europe, USA --from the world. Ocean plastic entangles marine mammals and fish, is ingested by birds, never degrades and floats for decades. Humans dispose of 8 million tons of plastic in the oceans every year. That's 200,000 large interstate truck loads per year -- and only a tiny fraction of humankind's total trash load on the planet. Continue reading...

Region’s reliance on automobiles harmful, not sustainable

How to capture the sorry state of our transportation? There are many good books, with solutions -- James Kunstler's classic "The Geography of Nowhere"; Jane Holtz Kay's "Asphalt Nation"; Katie Alvord's "Divorce Your Car!"; and Alex Marshall's "How Cities Work." Our bad transportation habits have become so embedded in infrastructure and culture that it's difficult to imagine extricating ourselves, but try we must. Continue reading...